It has long been considered desirable to produce a denim fabric, suitable for manufacture into garments such as pants and jackets, which has the look and feel of washed and tumbled dried garments. In the past, denim has been finished with a starch finish on top of the size used for weaving. The finished denim is shipped to a cutter as a stiff, heavy fabric, and the cutter in turn cuts the stiff fabric and sews it into the garments. The garments were either sold in this condition, or the garments themselves were washed, softened, reconditioned by steaming, pressing or ironing, resized, and sold. These latter steps were taken, of course, to simulate the look of a home laundered garment, but involved very expensive and time consuming procedures.
According to the present invention, it is possible to produce denim fabric, which fabric is suitable for manufacture into garments, which duplicates the look and feel of washed and tumble dried garments, and which can be produced in a relatively inexpensive and quick procedure compared to the prior art treatment of already completed garments, as described above. There have been numerous attempts to achieve the desired results according to the invention, which have only been of limited success. While commercial quantities of fabric have been produced by such prior techniques, they have not achieved the acceptable results that have been achieved according to the invention. The unsuccessful prior art procedures have normally involved the steps of singeing, then brushing or otherwise abrading the fabric, open-width washing and rope washing it, finished, Sanforizing.RTM. (compressively shrinking), and singeing it.
According to the present invention it has been found that in order to achieve desired results, it is necessary to raise the warp yarns to the face of the fabric before subjecting it to the abrading action. Once the warp yarns have been pushed to the face of the fabric, and properly positioned for presentation to a surface abrading action, they are acted upon (such as by a fine sandpaper in the range of about 50-100 grit) so as to duplicate the surface abrasion action of washing and tumble drying, but without making a napped or brushed type of face.
According to the present invention, the action of raising the warp yarns is effected by: Scouring the fabric with a blend of phosphated esters. Open-width washing of the fabric. Effecting first and second rope washing of the fabric to complete the removal of detergent and size from the cloth, while still leaving an amount of starch and other non-fibrous materials in the range of about 1.5-3.5 percent to ensure good hand development and thickness. Drying the rope-washed fabric under tension to flatten out rope marks and to remove creases. Finishing the fabric with a formulation including a wetter and a softener. Sanforizing.RTM. (compressively shrinking) the fabric. Abrading the tips of the warp crimp of the fabric without making a napped or brushed type of finish or face. And, shrinking the fabric to stabilize it at no more than 3 percent.times.3 percent warp and filling shrinkage.
The abrading action may be accomplished utilizing a 9 roll T-Ralph sander with only 6 rolls running at a speed of 50 ydm. After sanding, the fabric is shrunk to stabilize the fabric at no more than 3 percent.times.3 percent warp filling shrinkage; that is to stabilize the processed fabric to a 0 to 2% percent warp shrinkage range.
Practicing the invention, an exceptionally desirable denim fabric is produced, which, when made into garments may be more easily handled so that the garment manufacture can be quicker and more simple, and the final garments that are produced effectively duplicate home laundered and tumble dried garments. Garments produced utilizing the fabric according to the invention being produced in a less expensive and less time consuming manner than garments produced in the prior art in a manner which simulated home laundering and tumble drying.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide for the effective duplication of a home laundered and tumbled dried look for garments made from denim fabric. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.